# Do pens have caps or lids? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 21, 2013, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821 "2013-10-21T14:53:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 22, 2013, 10:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/41 "2013-10-22T10:36:35Z")
> [@For You](#): > > In US, very few of us ever use fountain pens. We do sometimes use felt-tip pens or these things that look kind of like needles, but the upshot is a pen puts ink on paper, not much greater detail is needed. We rarely even use carbon-paper-type things anymore, so the type of pen is usually not an issue. Even some non-ball-point pens have ink that survives getting wet, all we really care about is that the lines get on the paper. When I was attending my stuffy, private all girls’ school back in the 80s, biros/ballpoint pens were strictly _verboten_ - essays were to be written in fountain pen or risk rejection. I feel rather wistful for those days, and dislike biros to this day. Nasty, thin shafted things, give me hand cramps. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/42 "2013-10-23T00:15:49Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > When I was attending my stuffy, private all girls’ school back in the 80s, biros/ballpoint pens were strictly _verboten_ - essays were to be written in fountain pen or risk rejection. I feel rather wistful for those days, and dislike biros to this day. Nasty, thin shafted things, give me hand cramps. So, what was it like at the turn of the 20th century? ---
**Author:** ![Learjeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/94ad74/32.png) [@Learjeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Learjeff)\ **Post date:** [October 23, 2013, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/43 "2013-10-23T20:23:28Z")
A pen doesn’t have a top or bottom. It has a tip or point. When stored, the tip of a felt pen or ballpoint pen would be stored down. I don’t remember the correct way to store a cartridge or inkwell pen, though I’m old enough to have used them. I’m glad they’re history, since I ruined enough stuff when they leaked. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/44 "2013-10-24T03:33:59Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Not so, get thee to the airport to meet like minds, for we Brits call them lids. This Brit has never called the cap of a pen a lid, nor ever heard anyone else do so that I can recall. I might sometimes just call it a top. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/45 "2013-10-24T05:08:18Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Not so, get thee to the airport to meet like minds, for we Brits call them lids. > [@njtt](#): > > This Brit has never called the cap of a pen a lid, nor ever heard anyone else do so that I can recall. I might sometimes just call it a top. I too have never heard a pen cap called a ‘lid’. (I’ve lived and taught for decades in both London and the Midlands.) Sanvito, which part of the UK are you from? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/46 "2013-10-24T06:56:58Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I too have never heard a pen cap called a ‘lid’. > (I’ve lived and taught for decades in both London and the Midlands.) > > Sanvito, which part of the UK are you from? Funnily enough, I grew up in Birmingham and have spent my adult life in London. Pretty surprised you haven’t heard of lid - a google search shows it on numerous sites, I haven’t made it up! ---
**Author:** ![JBDivmstr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/b4bc9f/32.png) [@JBDivmstr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JBDivmstr)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 8:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/47 "2013-10-24T08:39:05Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Pots have lids? No, pot comes in lids. Kind of ‘dating’ yourself there, ain’t you, **Siam Sam**? 😃 > [@sahirrnee](#): > > But are they still $15? > > _ **Damn I’m old** _☹ (bolding mine) You and me, both, **sahirnee**! 😉 (And apparently **Siam Sam** , too. :p) No, it costs quite a bit more these days. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/48 "2013-10-24T14:38:42Z")
Bummer. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![James\_Toothpaste](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e56c9b/32.png) [@James\_Toothpaste](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/James_Toothpaste)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/49 "2013-10-24T19:08:10Z")
Pens have a cap in my opinion, but if you want to call it a lid, or something else, this is fine and nobody should make a big deal. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [October 24, 2013, 7:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/50 "2013-10-24T19:28:11Z")
> [@Learjeff](#): > > When stored, the tip of a felt pen or ballpoint pen would be stored down. I guess that depends on your definition of “stored.” If I put a pen in a breast pocket, with the clip over the pocket edge, is that “storing”? If so, on my desk right now, I have a Sharpie (fiber, not felt) that would then have the point up. And I have a Bic Round Stic (ballpoint) that would also have the point up. If the pen has a detachable point cover (not gonna enter this argument), then it would have the point _up_ if clipped to a pocket. If the pen does not have a detachable point cover (a retractable), then the point would be _down._ Now I have to get back to work – something less important, like rocket surgery. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/51 "2013-10-25T14:58:23Z")
> [@glee](#): > > I too have never heard a pen cap called a ‘lid’. > (I’ve lived and taught for decades in both London and the Midlands.) > > Sanvito, which part of the UK are you from? > [@SanVito](#): > > Funnily enough, I grew up in Birmingham and have spent my adult life in London. Pretty surprised you haven’t heard of lid - a google search shows it on numerous sites, I haven’t made it up! Fair enough - a quick Google does indeed show there are images for pen ‘tops’, pen ‘caps’ and pen ‘lids’. (It still doesn’t fit with my idea of a ‘lid’, though!) ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/52 "2013-10-25T21:26:42Z")
I voted “caps”. I’ve never heard it called a lid; could it be a difference between American and Canadian English? ---
**Author:** ![Ignatz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/3be4f8/32.png) [@Ignatz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ignatz)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2013, 2:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/53 "2013-10-26T02:00:24Z")
I voted “cap”. Pens ensues. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2013, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821/54 "2013-10-28T19:49:23Z")
I don’t really call it a lid anymore, but I do remember calling it a “pen lid” when I was younger. Though, for all I know, that’s confabulation. I do know that “pen cap” sounds weird. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-pens-have-caps-or-lids/671821.md?page=2)